


The First Meeting (with images)

by AskHisDisciple (PisceanQueen)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-08
Updated: 2013-05-08
Packaged: 2017-12-10 19:33:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/789362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PisceanQueen/pseuds/AskHisDisciple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A wind of change sweeps through a village and perks the interest of the Huntress.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First Meeting (with images)

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Первая Встреча (с иллюстрациями) (The First Meeting (with images) by AskHisDisciple (PisceanQueen))](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1300570) by [Mr_Scapegrace](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mr_Scapegrace/pseuds/Mr_Scapegrace)



The volume of their harsh whispers caught my attention.

_“You heard me: Some fool is outside the town on the hill spouting heresies about equality between the castes!”_

_“Can't be. Is he mad? Is he wanting to get culled?”_

_“Reckon so. They say he has no sign to his name; that his blood isn’t on the spectrum either. A mutant that didn't get culled! But that’s not the wildest part. He’s got a psionic bodyguard and a grub keeper with him. Apparently the grub keeper raised him, acting as his lusus! Those two escaped from their castes and follow him around!”_

Escaped the castes?

_“Bullshit! This I gotta see.”_

That was the first I ever heard of the signless troll. At first I thought it was a morbid joke as all the others did. ‘Equality in the spectrum?’ There was nothing of the sort… nor would there ever be! The Highbloods had all the control and for us Lowbloods to even think of going against them would surely be courting death. Every single one of us feared the wrath of those loyal to our brutal Empress.

By very nature we were all hatched differently and we all assumed it was some sort of divine plan from the Mother Grub. Perhaps we were all cogs in a cosmic machine and there was a predefined place meant for us. How could anything a Lowblood do or say change anything the Highbloods did? And on top of that any "change" we would by some means manage would just be swiftly undone upon our deaths. What was this signless troll’s plan? To kill all the Highbloods? Because that is what it would take. Even I knew that!

I quickly left the beast hides I had been cleaning and began to creep in the shadows towards the edge of town, keeping to the brush. If a Highblood patrol came upon this dangerous gathering they’d slaughter all they saw. I learned early on not to take chances after seeing similar outcomes and I swore my blood would not spill this night. In my mind I still heard the screams of the Lowblood wigglers when I closed my eyes at night, before the sopor slime, if there was any cocoon for me to be found, calmed me.

Gradually the crowd of people grew closer together until I could see the source of their rapt attention. Atop a hill, back-lit from the light of the moons and amid a throng of people, stood a single troll with stubby horns, cloaked and hooded in iron gray, arms spread wide in beneficence. I widened my eyes at the sight. He spoke to all before him with gentle words, relaying messages of equality, peace, and hope. Many scoffed, recalling tales of brutality suffered at the hands of the Empress’s forces. Some went to tears at their losses: matesprits, moirails, kismesises, even auspistices lost to brutal acts of caste-fueled violence. This signless troll took it all in stride, calming those who had been victimized with a soft voice tinged with compassion. He promised their struggles would not be in vain.

For he had seen a world, he said, a vision so beautiful that to behold it was truly a wonder. The castes lived in harmony with one another, those hatched of royal blood saw to the care and protection of those lower on the spectrum than they were. No one was considered more privileged than anyone else simply because of their blood color, instead, the higher they were on the spectrum the more responsibility they held for others. The lowest maroon-bloods looked among each other nervously. They couldn’t fathom the idea of being more than what they were: fodder and slaves... but the words of the Signless held sway with those who suffered.

With the signless troll were two others flanking him, a jade-blood and a psychic ochre-blood. The jade-blood looked kindly upon the preacher, with much fondness. She must have been the troll lusus the others were talking about. What an odd idea, raising a grub! Why would anyone want to? What of the trials in the caverns? Were these avoided? There were many questions swarming around this serene and elegantly beautiful troll.

Eventually I found myself leaving the safety of the underbrush and I took to the trees, climbing up trunks and dancing across limbs as I always did on the hunt. I admit now I was drawn in by the tales of compassion and friendship from this other world without the hemospectrum. How wonderful it might be, my heart whispered to me! I leapt until I was near enough to see them all up close while still shadowed in the leaves, and I watched the three of them speak to the masses. They were all talking freely and laughing with the crowd, clapping each other on the back like friends.

By then I was entranced. I wanted to know more. I had to know for myself if it was really true, so I decided to approach. My maddening curiosity is my only real weakness. I remember long ago I was told it would eventually kill me… but I knew I didn't care any more.

I leapt down from my perch once the crowd had thinned a little and the flashing eyes of the ochre-blood bore down on me with a dangerous warning. I stopped in my tracks and stared him down, unafraid, but not foolish enough to test him. To him I was seen as big a threat as any Highblood and he was more than ready to respond to whatever I threw at him. I knew then he was the muscle of the trio. Fitting. An untamed psionic would be quite the formidable adversary against almost any of the castes.

The signless troll glanced over at me upon noting his companion’s agitation and our eyes finally met. I could scarcely believe how red they were. He beckoned me over, smiling with warmth, but I hesitated when I caught the gaze of the psionic again. When I did not approach, the Signless did, calming his friend with a nonchalant pat on his shoulder. While the psionic relaxed I knew I was not out of danger.

“Have you been up there all this time?” the Signless asked me. His voice was a clear alto and easy on my ears.

I nodded.

“You do not need to be afraid, we will not hurt you.”

“Perhaps not with force… but your words might,” I said. “This is my home. This is the home to many others as well. You endanger all of us with your heretical words against the Empress and the caste system. What if the Highbloods catch you? What if they raze this town to the ground because we granted you audience? What will we all do?”

He frowned and nodded, looking off to the side.

“Those are all thoughts that haunt me often, but I am careful to speak only when I am asked to, and only to those who are willing to listen. What I have to say to this world goes against everything we all have ever known. Some have also accused me of heresy, and more than a few have betrayed our whereabouts, but in the visions I have seen, my friend!… I wish I could show it to you! I know there is a better way for us all to live because I have _seen_ it. I have seen the light and I know the truth. I must share my message with all of Alternia, regardless of personal risks.”

I skewed my head to the side, “You really believe you’ve seen that other world?”

“Yes. I have.”

“How do you know it’s not just a dream? Perhaps it was just a hallucination.”

He shook his head. I noticed how short and nubby his horns were through the hood of his cloak. They were strangely appealing to me, so short but proud, just like him. I almost smiled at him.

“I’ve had these visions for as long as I can remember. They were all of this same world we know now, but with… different parameters. My mother can attest to it," he motioned towards the jade-blood, "she’s raised me since I was a grub, and it was all I went on about as a wiggler,” and he glanced to her as she chatted calmly with a brown-blood.

“So it’s true then. I mean... what they say.”

Another nod was my reply.

“You are very unusual, signless one. And not only your eyes…”

He stared at me for a time, as if to let me take them in, then broke into a smile that had a hint of shyness to it, as if he was still trying to get used to being stared at, “It is clear you have many questions. Come rest with us three and I’ll be happy to answer them all for you.”

I glanced at the ochre-blood. He hadn’t stopped staring at me, his expression fierce. I drew back a few steps from them both.

“Perhaps another time.”

I looked away for a moment then turned and scaled up another tree. From the branches I looked down at them both, wondering if it was all just an elaborate lie. The Signless stared for a moment more, bewildered, and then I crept off further into the darkness. In my wake I could hear him address his guardian friend with a sigh in his voice.

“You scared her off, Captor.”

"...Good. I don't like her."

Hmph. The feeling was mutual. But he hadn’t scared me off, really. I was just being cautious. That's how you stay alive in this world.

“We have taken camp at the cliffs a few miles from here. I’m sure you know where that is. I still extend my welcome to you, Huntress, should you wish to speak further!” the signless one called out into the night so I could hear. I paused and looked back in his direction. His psionic friend glared at him sourly and the Signless just flashed a brilliant smile, walking back towards his lusus troll. The ochre-blood turned back towards the trees where I took my leave and I swear he looked right at me. It was a warning, perhaps. Maybe a dare?

I took chances every day hunting in the forest alone. My lusus had been murdered by Highbloods in a raid when I was six sweeps, leaving me to learn how to fend for myself. On that day I became the Huntress. I made a living selling the meat and furs I brought back from my excursions, sometimes from killing a rogue beast that plagued our small town. You could always find someone cold and hungry where we lived. It was so remote and destitute we were living no better than the beasts.

But that could change if this signless troll was to be believed. As I leapt through the treetops towards the cliffs, deciding with conviction to take up his offer of further conversation, I wondered how this bold plan would all come about. Surely the Highbloods would not lay down their weaponry and welcome us to their way of life with open arms. They wouldn’t stand for it. Control is a powerful addiction. There would be a caste war, no doubt. Thousands would die. Was following a dream worth all that death? Perhaps these rogue trolls would just _hope_ there was no animosity over the proposed changes.

I found their camp well before they arrived back and I lit their fire for them. I was grateful they at least made a well hidden camp under a cliff face. They wouldn't be seen from above. I then took to the trees once more, wary of what I’d find drawn to that flame. The psionic worried me more than a Highblood patrol. I had no real defenses against him should he lash out at me.

I didn't have to wait much longer for their arrival. They were so noisy, trudging though the forest with heavy feet. Amateurs. The psionic, of course, approached the scene first, wary and guarded, looking over the camp for whomever lit the flames. The signless one soon stepped passed him, much to his friend’s chagrin, a bright smile on his face even in the firelight. The jade-blood also smiled and drew near, graceful and elegant, ready to prepare a meal for the three of them.

“So you came after all,” the mutant-blood called out into the night.

“I was curious,” I replied in turn, keeping my position above.

“I see. Perhaps you could be curious down here where we all may look upon you, Huntress?”

I mulled it over. They seemed harmless, psionic aside, and if we were ambushed by Highbloods I was certain I could hold my own long enough to flee into the night. I leapt down and landed in a crouch, rising and walking with caution towards the fire.

The red-blood told me his name and I offered him mine in return. I sat on a boulder towards the edge of the flames, well away from the three of them, meeting the eyes of the psionic in a challenge for a time before the signless troll broke me from my trance.

“Lady Leijon,” he started, respectfully addressing me with my surname, “I can see in your eyes that you’ve felt this blood-based injustice firsthand.”

 _Lady Leijon_. Yikes, that was cute. I’d never been called that before. I just nodded.

“I can see you think it isn’t possible to change the way things are.”

“I don't just think, I know.”

He shook his head, still smiling. He seemed to smile more than any troll I’d ever met.

“You’re wasting your time again, Vantas,” the psionic snarked, a lisp in his voice, not looking at us as he helped the jade-blood prepare. The signless one gave him a sour look. I just glowered at the psionic from behind. Jerk. 

“Nonsense, Captor. She came here because she was curious to see if there was indeed a better way. I wish to tell her so that she may see,” and the signless one turned to me again, “Now then… tell me your tale. Then I will tell you mine.”

And so I did. I imparted on them every encounter I had with the Highbloods, I spoke of all the sweeps on my own, and the uncertainty of each day that I faced. How I remembered that I was once of good spirits, but now I trusted no one. I only did what I had to do to protect what little spirit I had left. I found my meals and my shelter. It was a very solitary existence.

“Surely you agree, my Lady, that it is no way to live.”

“What choice do I have? It is the only way to live around here.”

“That is not so,” the jade-blood spoke up, approaching me. She offered me a bowl of soup filled with a few vegetables. I hadn’t eaten that day, my hunting trip hadn't turned anything up, and my stomach betrayed me. She nodded for me to take it and I did so. I ate it quickly, unconcerned with how ‘ladylike’ I came across. I didn’t think I’d ever be as serene and matronly as the jade-blood, so why bother?

She canted her head to the side and spoke to me as I ate.

“I knew when I was younger that living my life in the brooding caverns was not a life I wanted for myself, but I always did what they said I was born to do. I never questioned it; never asked why. But one day, after a few sweeps of service, I found this one all alone and near death from hunger,” and she put her slender hand on the signless one’s head, “He was without a lusus to claim him and no sign had been given to him. He would have been slated for culling had I not taken him for my own and fled the caverns. Can you imagine it? Culled simply because of the color of his blood before his life even began. I realized then just how much our blood color truly controlled all our lives. How it controlled mine. It defined all of us, yet I knew within that it did not. I thought I could defy the social order by raising him, acting as his mother like the wild beasts are known to do for their young, just to prove that there was another way. I made it my duty to keep him sheltered and happy; to make him feel safe and cared for, to educate him about the world, and to not worry him about his differences. We were both on the run for sweeps. They sought me once they realized I abandoned my post. I knew if they found me they would eventually find him… and they would cull us both. All over blood color and a dream of freedom.”

I glanced between them. The signless one took the hand of his lusus and looked up at her with an unfamiliar expression, a smile filled with warmth. Pity? No. It was platonic. Not moraillegience either. This was a foreign relationship to me. Like… a master and a student, only with deep affection. So strange! It took a long while to grasp the situation… and I had once prided myself on knowing the subtle nuances of the quadrants!

“He freed me from a flagship after I was conscripted into service when I was eight,” the ochre-blood spoke next; his glare for me abated for a time, “I served a few sweeps until it went up in flames after an electrical malfunction, crashed near a village, and the coward asshole Highbloods in control just left me anchored inside to burn alive. From what I’ve been told... I was screaming and bleeding from the mental overload when the main systems went haywire. I don’t remember any of it, but this fool here tore me free when he heard me screaming and dragged me out himself,” and he nodded to the signless one, “and then he went back in and found two more fools trapped inside after saving me. One of them was a Highblood left behind by her supposed comrades. But Vantas here... he didn’t see a difference between any of us. To him we're all worthy of saving, no matter our caste. I just thought I’d been hatched just to pilot ships, just like they told me, and I had accepted that, but he shows up and tells me that's not the case. I could be free to do what I wanted if not for the fucking hemospectrum. So I said ‘all right, fuck it’ and here I am watching over his fool ass. It's way better than being a slave.”

I once more stared into the red eyes of the hooded troll before me and he continued to smile. It was inviting. I felt I could get lost in that vivid color; that I could swim in those odd red depths…

  
He was a mutant. Is that what made him so strange? Is that why he did these strange things? Saving people? I wondered just how many more stories he had to tell. Suddenly… I found myself wanting to know _everything_ about him, a troll who lived for others and not just for himself was such an anomaly to me.

“Just like you, my Lady, we have all risen above hemospectrum adversity, however slight it may have been. But the difference is that we are choosing to do something about this system of oppression. We will not sit idle while those around us suffer so.”

I scowled.

“I only do what I have to. Do _not_ hold that against me.”

He held his hands out to pacify me, “And I do not… Not in the least! ...But would you not like to do more with this precious life we have all been given? Would you not like to hear more of my visions of the other world? How Alternia could be if we only tried to change it? Wouldn’t you like to change it with us?”

I looked up at the stars, pinpoints of white amidst the glow of the moons, fading in and out from the smoke of the fire, and thought very carefully. It was a foolish dream, even if I wasn’t privy to it. Laced with danger that I knew well to avoid... but also  with the promise of adventure. And maybe hope. Maybe I could regain who I once was all those sweeps ago, before I knew what it meant to have the blood that I had.

“So. You ask me to follow a dream with you?”

The Signless nodded to me, “I won’t lie to you. It is a perilous path we tread upon. We are hunted. Death may await us at the end of our journey.”

“True. But I am no stranger to such things… I do the hunting in my life. And you would clearly benefit from a hunter coming along with you,” I admitted with a casual shrug, glancing to the jade-blood, “Your stew could use some meat in it.”  
She gave me a tranquil smile and nodded.

“Think on it, my Lady. Do not rush into this. We will be here until tomorrow evening. If you wish to follow, you know where we are. There is no pressure.”

I rose to my feet and nodded to them. I paused to regain my thoughts.

“We shall see. Thank you for the meal.”

I took off again and ascended another tree, making my way back to the town without a look. I had already made my decision when I looked up to the stars to follow his dream. The look into his eyes had shown me of the conviction in his words and told me of the path I needed to take, but I still needed my belongings for the journey.

My life had become repetitive and boring since my lusus died. I wasn’t really doing much with it. I had been alive all these sweeps and what had I to show for it? The Signless… he was making the best of his life. He was helping those who needed it, comforting the sick and weak, calming those who were heartbroken. He was lifting them up. I wanted to do that too. I liked seeing smiles. I remembered what it was like to laugh.

When I returned to their campsite in the early hours of morning all three of them were sound asleep, even the psionic, his chin resting against his chest. They could have been ambushed and caught unprepared had they not had luck on their side. How they had lasted this long without me was beyond my guess, but I could see they were all very exhausted. I could understand. It is never easy being on the run.

I dropped my bag of supplies, filled with the stores of salted meat I had intended to sell, along with a few warm pelts that I knew they needed to stay warm, and went to work making the morning meal for them. I was taken by surprise when I was violently lifted ten feet straight into the air, left to hang there motionless as the tin plates clattered around the campsite.

The ochre-blood had woken up.

The other two calmed him down with a shout and I was allowed to move once more on the ground where I belonged.

“You and me," I glared at him, "I reckon we’re going to have some words.”

He sniffed at me arrogantly. Stubborn braybeast.

“So you’ve decided then, Lady Leijon?” the signless one interrupted, stopping the argument in its tracks. Always the peacemaker, this one.

I told him my first name was fine on its own, and to leave off the ‘Lady’, “You three were sitting targets out here, snoring your cares away. Didn’t anyone think of a watch? Don’t you know the Highbloods visit these woods on occasion?”

The psionic looked away. Guess who fell asleep on the clock?

“Well. It looks like I’ll be the one watching over all of you," I sighed, "I’ll have to teach you how to avoid getting killed in unfamiliar territory. How to hunt. How to evade. How to track...”

The Signless seemed very pleased with my decision.

“Our thanks,” the jade-blood smiled.

“So…Where to?” I asked.

They looked at the signless one.

He smirked.

“We head towards the sea.”

Water? I _hated_ water! However there was no time like the present to get over that fear, I guessed.

We broke camp together and set out on foot towards the ocean. It was a long walk, spanning the breadth of a couple days, and we kept to the forests whenever possible upon my insistence. As we walked, and even when we rested, I took out my leather journal and asked the Signless and his comrades to tell me as many tales as they could. I started to write them all down with their permission. Who knew who’d eventually read my chronicles of their lives? Perhaps my recordings would serve a greater purpose. Perhaps someone in the future could use the messages of hope I was writing of; the tales of overcoming adversity; the inspiration.

I knew from then on I would no longer be the Huntress. Instead, I would become the Disciple, the one who recorded the Signless' dreams and hopes for the future of our world.

I knew then I would follow him until the very end.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this! All these images are from my AskBlog: AskHisDisciple.tumblr
> 
> I apologize for the lack of images towards the end, I posted this on the blog during the end of my semester last year so it was a little hectic.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed both the fic and the art!


End file.
